Editing Radiohead (section)

=== 1998–2001: ''Kid A'', ''Amnesiac'' and change in sound ===
[[File:Jonny Greenwood Synth (Amsterdam).jpg|thumb|Jonny Greenwood has used a variety of instruments, such as this [[glockenspiel]], in live concerts and recordings.]]
[[File:Radiohead's Kid A Matters.ogg|thumb|right|[[Phil Selway]] discussing ''[[Kid A]]'' in 2000]]
After the success of ''OK Computer'', Radiohead bought a barn in Oxfordshire and converted it into a recording studio.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Rogers |first=Jude |author-link=Jude Rogers |date=29 September 2024 |title='It commemorates collective moments': Radiohead through the eyes of Colin Greenwood |url=https://www.theguardian.com/music/2024/sep/29/radiohead-colin-greenwood-photography-how-to-disappear#comments |access-date=29 September 2024 |work=[[The Observer]] |language=en-GB |issn=0029-7712}}</ref> They began work on their next album with Godrich in early 1999, working in studios in Paris, Copenhagen, and [[Gloucester]] before their new studio was completed.<ref name="SMITH" /> Although their success meant there was no longer pressure from their record label,<ref name="ROSS" /> tensions were high. The members had different visions for Radiohead's future, and Yorke suffered from [[writer's block]], influencing him toward more abstract, fragmented songwriting.<ref name="ECCLES" /> O'Brien kept an online diary of their progress.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.mtv.com/news/517864/radiohead-guitarists-online-diary-gives-glimpse-of-new-lp/ |title=Radiohead Guitarist's Online Diary Gives Glimpse Of New LP |website=MTV News|access-date=26 July 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190726215727/http://www.mtv.com/news/517864/radiohead-guitarists-online-diary-gives-glimpse-of-new-lp/|archive-date=26 July 2019|url-status=dead}}</ref> After nearly 18 months, recording was completed in April 2000.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Nelson |first=Chris |date=20 April 2000 |title=Radiohead complete recording for ''OK Computer'' follow-up |url=https://www.mtv.com/news/821233/radiohead-complete-recording-for-ok-computer-follow-up/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211004102055/https://www.mtv.com/news/821233/radiohead-complete-recording-for-ok-computer-follow-up/ |url-status=dead |archive-date=4 October 2021 |access-date=4 October 2021 |website=[[MTV News]] |language=en}}</ref>

Radiohead's fourth album, ''[[Kid A]]'', was released in October 2000. A departure from ''OK Computer'', ''Kid A'' featured a [[minimalism|minimalist]] and textured style with more diverse instrumentation, including the [[ondes Martenot]], programmed [[electronic music|electronic]] beats, [[string orchestra|strings]], and jazz horns.<ref name="ECCLES" /> It debuted at number one in many countries, including the US, where it became the first Radiohead album to debut atop the ''[[Billboard 200|Billboard]]'' chart and the first US number-one album by any UK act since the [[Spice Girls]] in 1996.<ref name="BBCKIDAAMN">{{cite news |date=14 June 2001 |title=US Success for Radiohead |work=[[BBC News]] |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/1389135.stm |url-status=live |access-date=22 March 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070313150734/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/1389135.stm |archive-date=13 March 2007}}</ref> This success was attributed variously to marketing, to the album's leak on the file-sharing network [[Napster]] a few months before its release, and to advance anticipation based, in part, on the success of ''OK Computer''.<ref>{{cite news |title=CD Soars After Net Release: Radiohead's 'Kid A' premieres in No.&nbsp;1 slot |last=Evangelista |first=Benny|access-date=17 March 2007 |date=12 October 2000 |newspaper=[[San Francisco Chronicle]] |url=http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2000/10/12/BU108599.DTL&type=tech_article|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110718100907/http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2000/10/12/BU108599.DTL&type=tech_article|archive-date=18 July 2011|url-status=live}}<br />{{cite news |last=Menta |first=Richard |title=Did Napster Take Radiohead's New Album to Number 1? |newspaper=[[MP3 Newswire]] |date=28 October 2000}}<br />{{cite news |last=Oldham |first=James |title=Radiohead&nbsp;— Their Stupendous Return |newspaper=NME |date=24 June 2000}}</ref> Although Radiohead released no singles from ''Kid A'', [[Promotional recording|promos]] of "[[Optimistic (Radiohead song)|Optimistic]]" and "[[Idioteque]]" received radio play, and a series of "blips", short videos set to portions of tracks, were played on music channels and released free online.<ref name="ZORIC">{{cite news |last=Zoric |first=Lauren |date=22 September 2000 |title=I think I'm meant to be dead |newspaper=[[The Guardian]] |url=https://www.theguardian.com/friday_review/story/0,,371289,00.html |access-date=3 April 2023}}</ref> Radiohead continued a 2000 tour of Europe in a custom-built tent free of advertising; they also promoted ''Kid A'' with three sold-out North American theatre concerts.<ref name="ZORIC" />

{{Listen
 | filename=Everything In Its Right Place.ogg
 | title="Everything in Its Right Place"
 | description=The opening track from Radiohead's fourth album, this song emphasises the band's increasing use of [[electronic music]] and distortions of Thom Yorke's vocals.
}}

''Kid A'' received a [[Grammy Award]] for [[Grammy Award for Best Alternative Music Album|Best Alternative Album]] and a nomination for [[Grammy Award for Album of the Year|Album of the Year]] in early 2001. It won both praise and criticism in [[independent music]] circles for appropriating [[underground music|underground]] styles of music; some British critics saw ''Kid A'' as a "commercial suicide note" and "intentionally difficult", and longed for a return to Radiohead's earlier style.<ref name="KENT" /><ref name="FREQUENCY" /> Fans were similarly divided; along with those who were appalled or mystified, many saw it as the band's best work.<ref name="REYNOLDS" /><ref>{{cite journal |url=https://www.metacritic.com/music/artists/radiohead/kida |title=Kid A by Radiohead|access-date=20 May 2007 |journal=[[Metacritic]]|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070609160948/http://www.metacritic.com/music/artists/radiohead/kida|archive-date=9 June 2007|url-status=live}}</ref> Yorke denied that Radiohead had set out to eschew expectations, saying: "We're not trying to be difficult&nbsp;... We're actually trying to communicate but somewhere along the line, we just seemed to piss off a lot of people&nbsp;... What we're doing isn't that radical."<ref name="KENT" /> The album was ranked one of the best of all time by publications including [[Time (magazine)|''Time'']] and ''Rolling Stone;''<ref>{{cite magazine |date=13 November 2006 |title=The all-time 100 albums |url=http://www.time.com/time/2006/100albums/index.html |url-status=dead |magazine=[[Time (magazine)|Time]] |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110424141858/http://www.time.com/time/2006/100albums/index.html |archive-date=24 April 2011 |access-date=3 March 2009}}</ref><ref>{{Cite magazine |date=22 September 2020 |title=The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time |url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-lists/best-albums-of-all-time-1062063/ |magazine=[[Rolling Stone]] |language=en-US |access-date=23 September 2020}}</ref> ''Rolling Stone'', ''[[Pitchfork (website)|Pitchfork]]'' and the ''[[The Times|Times]]'' named it the best album of the decade.<ref>{{cite magazine |date=18 July 2011 |title=100 Best Albums of the 2000s |url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-lists/100-best-albums-of-the-2000s-153375/radiohead-kid-a-3-158987/ |magazine=[[Rolling Stone]] |access-date=13 May 2022}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=2 October 2009 |title=The top 200 albums of the 2000s: 20–1 – page 2 |url=https://pitchfork.com/features/lists-and-guides/7710-the-top-200-albums-of-the-2000s-20-1/?page=2 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160314045640/http://pitchfork.com/features/lists-and-guides/7710-the-top-200-albums-of-the-2000s-20-1/?page=2 |archive-date=14 March 2016 |access-date=2 September 2016 |website=[[Pitchfork (website)|Pitchfork]]}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.thetimes.com/article/the-100-best-pop-albums-of-the-noughties-s7bmg6sr90g |title=The 100 best pop albums of the Noughties |date=21 November 2009 |newspaper=[[The Times]]|access-date=15 January 2025}}</ref>

Radiohead's fifth album, ''[[Amnesiac (album)|Amnesiac]]'', was released in May 2001. It comprised additional tracks from the ''Kid A'' sessions, including "Life in a Glasshouse", featuring the [[The Humphrey Lyttelton Band|Humphrey Lyttelton Band]].<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/comedy/clue/interviews/humph_transcript2.shtml |title=The chairman – Humphrey Lyttelton |date=31 January 2001 |publisher=BBC|access-date=1 April 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090414233610/http://www.bbc.co.uk/comedy/clue/interviews/humph_transcript2.shtml|archive-date=14 April 2009|url-status=live}}</ref> Radiohead stressed that they saw ''Amnesiac'' not as a collection of B-sides or outtakes from ''Kid A'' but an album in its own right.<ref>{{cite interview |last1=Greenwood |first1=Colin|subject-link1=Colin Greenwood |last2=O'Brien |first2=Ed|subject-link2=Ed O'Brien |interviewer=Chris Douridas |title=Interview with Ed & Colin |work=Ground Zero |publisher=[[KCRW]] |date=25 January 2001}}</ref> It topped the [[UK Albums Chart]] and reached number two in the US, and was nominated for a Grammy Award and the [[Mercury Music Prize]].<ref name="FREQUENCY" /><ref name="BBCKIDAAMN" /> Radiohead released "[[Pyramid Song]]" and "[[Knives Out (song)|Knives Out]]" as singles, their first since 1998.<ref>{{cite web |author=Kessler, Ted |date=12 September 2005 |title=Radiohead: Pyramid Song: This is our favourite Radiohead single in recent memory&nbsp;... |url=https://www.nme.com/reviews/5064 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071017154745/http://www.nme.com/reviews/5064 |archive-date=17 October 2007 |access-date=22 April 2007 |website=[[NME]]}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last=Merryweather |first=David |date=24 July 2021 |title=Single Review: Radiohead – Knives Out |url=http://drownedinsound.com/releases/5182/reviews/1723- |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190508033751/http://drownedinsound.com/releases/5182/reviews/1723- |archive-date=8 May 2019 |access-date=10 August 2018 |work=[[Drowned in Sound]]}}</ref> Radiohead began a North American tour, their first there in three years, in June 2001.<ref>{{Cite magazine |last=Pakvis |first=Peter |date=21 June 2001 |title=Radiohead take ''Amnesiac'' on tour |url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/radiohead-take-amnesiac-on-tour-20010621 |url-status=live |magazine=[[Rolling Stone]] |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140517021226/http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/radiohead-take-amnesiac-on-tour-20010621 |archive-date=17 May 2014 |access-date=27 July 2014}}</ref> With a string of sold-out dates, ''[[The Observer]]'' described it as "the most sweeping conquest of America by a British group" since [[Beatlemania]], succeeding where bands such as [[Oasis (band)|Oasis]] had failed.<ref>{{Cite news |date=19 August 2001 |title=How Radiohead took America by stealth |language=en-GB |work=[[The Observer]] |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2001/aug/19/uk.theobserver |access-date=16 July 2023 |issn=0029-7712}}</ref> Recordings from the ''Kid A'' and ''Amnesiac'' tours were released on ''[[I Might Be Wrong: Live Recordings]]'' in November 2001.<ref>{{cite web |last=LeMay |first=Matt |date=17 December 2001 |title=Radiohead: ''I Might Be Wrong: Live Recordings EP'' |url=https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/6657-i-might-be-wrong-live-recordings-ep/|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160610001809/http://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/6657-i-might-be-wrong-live-recordings-ep/|archive-date=10 June 2016|access-date=11 June 2016 |website=[[Pitchfork (website)|Pitchfork]]}}</ref>